CJK Unified Ideograph-9A9D

It originally identified a red horse with black mane and tail.

The Han-era Shuowen Jiezi treats 骝 as a horse-colour word: 馬/马 gives the horse field, 留 gives the sound. That makes it a descriptive term that evolved through use, not an invented sign.

Later 驊騮/骅骝 names one of King Mu's famed horses, then any excellent steed and, in poetry, a gifted person. Japanese records keep the same famous-horse sense.

Why did someone send me 骝?

Read the surrounding word before the lone character.

A bare 骝 in a Mandarin-facing message usually signals a literary horse reference or a dictionary lookup, not a reaction. In Cantonese chat, the compound matters more than the single glyph.

As of 2026, a CUHK Mandarin-Cantonese database glosses 馬騮 as 猴子, “monkey”; CantoDict lists 馬騮仔 and 馬騮精 for a naughty or hyperactive child. That playful reading belongs to the Cantonese compound, not to 骝 alone.

骝 and 騮 are script forms

骝 is the simplified counterpart of traditional 騮, with historical variants such as 駵 and 驑. The difference is script and period, not meaning.

The Japanese compound 驊騮 is read かりゅう, with its first dictionary example from the 11th century. That preserves the Chinese famous-horse sense in Japanese literary vocabulary.